Valentines in a Snow Globe
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: Different circumstances may keep them apart most of the time, but time would always give a breath and a private bubble for those in love. [20 different pairings]
1. KingsleyMinerva

**A/N:** Written for the Valentine Drabble Challenge/Competition. I'm in for the hard level, so 20 pairings. This one's Kingsley/Minerva, with the prompt: hourglass.

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>1. Kingsley/Minerva**

Her stern frown had almost forgotten to smile. His genial smile had almost forgotten to quail under her severe glare, but he remembers and she remembers too.

He is late and well deserving of the frown. She is happy to see him and content to smile. The sand in the little hourglass of their lives slips away, but they have a moment together to enjoy.

'You're late.' Her glare quickly evaporated; their time was too precious to waste. But their lives were so entangled with other matters, there was little else they could do save salvage for scraps.

'Work,' he said quickly, as if casting it off like a cloak, for the same reasons. Their time…they had a plethora of other things they wished to talk about, to do.

She banishes her work away from their eyes and takes him in arm. He casts his own cloak away and accepts her. The hourglass still drains away; soon, there'll be a firecall, or an Owl, or a Patronus, and they'd go their separate ways again – but, for now, they had a moment wherein they could feel each other's embrace and think that time has stopped a breath for them.


	2. LysanderMolly II

**A/N:** Written for the Valentine Drabble Challenge/Competition. I'm in for the hard level, so 20 pairings. This one's Lysander/Molly II, with the prompt: truth.

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>2. Lysander/Molly II**

Lysander is full of energy and Molly is in a tired daze, but they can still sit and swing together in the fresh spring, and they do. Lysander pushes them both; Molly just rests her hair on his shoulder and lets her free red hair play with the breeze and brush them both from behind.

Lysander tells stories of Wrackspurts and Nargles and Molly listens with a quiet smile on her lips. She's still not sure she believes it all as fiercely as Lysander or his more vivacious twin, but she likes to hear the stories nonetheless. Sometimes she likes to believe them too, believe she can see them flying about and tagging each other in the wind, where Lysander's warm hand guides her hand.

'There,' he cries, pointing with both his hand and hers. Often she can see nothing there; sometimes she pretends she can…but sometimes, she really can see little wisps floating in the breeze.

No matter which it is, she gives them a tiny wave. Whether they're there or not, it's enough that Lysander is grinning happily when she does it.


	3. RogerKatie

**A/N:** Written for the Valentine Drabble Challenge/Competition. I'm in for the hard level, so 20 pairings. This one's Roger/Katie, with the prompt: misquoted poetry.

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>3. Roger/Katie**

Roger is a hopeless romantic, giving her red roses that wilt within days and reciting what sounded like misquoted Muggle poetry. Some Katie recognised, and with those, she had a hard time biting her tongue from correcting him. Still, it was amusing to hear him trip over his own feet as he tried to sweep her off hers.

And Roger wasn't so bad, as far as boys chasing after her went. He didn't turn around to prank her and her friends at every turn, like a certain pair of twins – which wasn't bad either, but hardly what she wanted with a man. And he didn't follow her at every turn, stealing time she'd put away for herself. And he wasn't pushy, or controlling, or overly competitive when it came to Quidditch, even if he was the captain. And he wasn't a Slytherin – not that she knew of any Slytherins who followed her around like love-sick puppies.

And Katie didn't mind red roses, or Muggle Poetry – even if he stumbled on more than half of the words as though it was a foreign tongue. Nor did she mind the sugar hearts he gave her instead of chocolate – because he'd taken the time to find out what she liked, and didn't.


	4. DudleyPiers

**A/N:** Written for the Valentine Drabble Challenge/Competition. I'm in for the hard level, so 20 pairings. This one's Dudley/Piers, with the prompt: headache.

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>4. Dudley/Piers**

Dudley wasn't the brightest, or the bravest, but there was something that endeared Piers all the same. Maybe it was the kindred spirit, the restless fists that pounded rock until it crumbled. Maybe it was the admiration of those fists when they fought for a purpose – for _their_ purpose. Fighting when they got on the wrong side of bullies in the schoolyard or on the streets, or fighting in the ring to give them a name.

Or maybe it was something as simple as the notes they passed in class: an alleviation of the boredom-induced lectures they had to suffer at school.

Most people didn't see all that: they only saw the fighting with little kids who didn't know their place, or needed to toughen up. Most people saw the spoilt delinquent who needed to go on a diet, or needed to be taken down a few notches.

Then again, most people saw Piers that way too.


	5. FredAngelina

**A/N:** Fred/Angelina, with "an unexpected reunion".

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>5. Fred-Angelina**

George was gripping her hand still, she presumed, but she couldn't feel him anymore. Couldn't hear him – though he had been screaming last she'd heard. What had happened then? Had the doctors kicked him out? Though he couldn't hear _them_ either, couldn't hear them say _push push push._

Didn't she need to push anymore? Did that mean she could collapse and sleep? That she didn't need to stay on a broom when it so bitterly hurt her seat, didn't need to keep her fingers around the Quaffle as a bludger from the opposing team rammed into her gut.

But the pain down there was faded, somewhat. And she wasn't hot anymore, like she'd been soaring through the sky at breakneck speed. Instead she was cool, like a gentle wind was whispering in her ears.

If she listened closely enough, she could hear a voice in that wind. _Go back. Be strong._ A voice her aching eyes recognised only when she opened her eyes to her husband's face, his twin's name humming on her lips.

She swallowed it, kept that experience to herself, as well as her former love's final words. Words meant for her and her alone.

_Look after my brother._

She let the tears fall instead.


	6. VernonPetunia

**A/N:** Vernon/Petunia, with "eccentric".

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>6. Vernon-Petunia**

Vernon and Petunia prided themselves on appearing conserved, even if the inside of their house was lavished with what riches they could afford. It didn't have to do with being the odd one, standing out. They didn't want to stand out. They wanted to blend in.

Maybe it was because both of them had issues growing up, being alienated by their family and friends and winding up the undeserved outcast of the lot. Maybe it was a twisted attempt at fitting in, at having the perfect happy family they couldn't be – in Petunia's case, because she wasn't magical like Lily. In Vernon's, because he didn't have the same head for business his brothers had. Or maybe it was something else, something else that had brought them together.

But, whatever the reason, they now had their little snow-globe life, with a bubbly little boy to boot. They'd spend an age dissociating themselves from anything abnormal, anything that would drag them back to the shadows of solitude again. And neither of them wanted that; neither wanted to be…abnormal.


	7. TeddyLily II

**A/N:** Teddy/Lily II, with "counting".

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>7. Teddy-Lily II**

Lily really was adorable, and as old as Teddy was, he couldn't help but want to spend time with her. Even if there were few things they could do together.

Mostly, it was Teddy trying to make Lily laugh, or teach her. Like how he'd taught her the colours – and it had taken him awhile to break the habit of her mistaking his blue Ravenclaw colours with the red from Gryffindor. Or how he was now teaching her to count, using first his fingers, then a string of conjured beads, and finally her own tiny little digits.

Her hands were so soft and warm in his, still baby-like if only because of the age difference between them. They tickled at his, worn from holding quills for so many years but still tender in their own right – tender with her, the adorable little girl that had stolen his heart.

And with the way she giggled and squirmed playfully on his lap and gripped his hand as they counted together, Teddy didn't think Lily minded much at all.


	8. RogerCho

**A/N**: Roger/Cho with "I lean to you, numb as a fossil. Tell me I'm here."- Sylvia Plath

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>8. Roger-Cho**

They hadn't initially been in love. They'd just been hurt, hollow – and of course, all likes came together, despite what they said about opposites attracting. But they managed to fall in love along the way.

At first, it was just her reeling from death and he from a rather messy breakup, and they'd been more than happy to spend time with each other to sooth those wounds. But they weren't sharp stinging wounds that could be easily soothed; they were black holes that sucked everything in, and silence was the only chaperone they entertained.

But when two black holes met, there was a limit to what emptiness could mean. Two zeroes maybe didn't add up to one, but two ones surpassed loneliness, and they could tell themselves and each other that.


	9. LuciusLockhart

**A/N: **Lucius/Lockhart, with the prompt "calm"

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>9. Lucius-Lockhart**

Lucius was a perfectly crafted specimen, or so his family always said. Voldermort was one of the few who could point out flaws in him.

Lockhart, unfortunately, was another. Lockhart with his apparently charming smile that Lucius lacked. Not that Lucius needed a smile; he charmed many a woman without it, and severity became him. In Lucius' humble opinion, smiling became no-one, least of all the lying fool.

Oh, he knew just how Lockhart swindled his living out of other foolish men and women. And he had been a fool to expose himself as the fraud he was; he would fall, someone would notice – Lucius knew that the moment he heard of the recruitment.

He wasn't concerned though; the entire subject was a joke. It didn't matter if a joker was teaching it – and yet, it did matter. Lucius didn't take offence at or envy many things, but Lockhart calling out his absent smile was one thing his mind constantly drifted back to.

And the infuriating smirk the other had given him when he'd said it.


	10. RemusPetunia

**A/N:** Remus/Petunia with the prompt "graveyard"

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>10. Remus-Petunia**

Two souls forbidden, both by themselves and the world. And yet they often met at the grave of his friends and her sister. Even if neither would admit it after; he didn't think he could say he deserved them, and she couldn't admit she still thought of them.

Except they could admit it, to each other. Where no-one else could judge them, where they couldn't judge themselves or each other. Where Petunia had wanted to learn magic, to be magical. Where Remus had long before his childhood giving up hope of doing so.

It was a funny thing to draw them together, but both of them needed someone in that little offshoot of a world. Something to which they could admit as opposed to deny. Even if they were the epitome of the other's expectations, their dreams. To fit in with the people they cared about the most: Petunia with magic, Remus without lycanthropy. And only when everything was buried except for them, they could.


	11. TerryPadma

**A/N:** Terry/Padma with the prompt "chocolate frogs"

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>11. Terry/Padma**

Many things were forbidden to the library, and most of those things were also forbidden by the Ravenclaw Common Room.

When Terry was feeling romantic, he'd sneak Padma a few Chocolate Frogs, and Padma would be careful to devour them out of sight – behind the curtains of her bed usually, because then no-one could wine she would get the chocolate onto any books save her own. And often she would have a book with her: not necessarily a school-related book, but sometimes just a nice quiet novel for relaxation.

Sometimes it wasn't a book for reading, but a notebook to write in: little notes she could tear out and spell down into the common room for Terry instead of whispering to each other downstairs. It was another one of those rules, but they both found it more fun to trade notes.

Sometimes, Padma would send a little chocolate print as well, to show she's enjoying her chocolate frogs.


	12. DracoGinny

**A/N:** Draco/Ginny with prompt "fallen leaves".

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>12. Draco-Gabrielle**

She was beautiful, but frail like the falling golden leaves of autumn. It suited him; he disliked raging fire that left burn marks on his too pale flesh. She was a bit young, but other than that she was perfect: gentle like the autumn, unlike the harsh sun of summer or the biting winter frost.

Yes, she was frail, but he was a man and powerful and could protect her. And she wasn't unintelligent, nor was she too intelligent for a woman, to the point where she lost her feministic qualities. Not like Granger, who became more a beaver than a human by the day. Not like McGonagall who'd worn stern creases into her mouth. But not as empty headed as ones like Pansy either.

On Gabrielle's part, Draco was kind enough and strong: not overly so that she should fear for the wellbeing of her home, but not so little that she should fear for her health. He saw her at least, saw beyond the Veela magic she bore, and she might have been younger than him, but as a part-Veela, couldn't ask for much more than Draco Malfoy.


	13. PeterRegulus

**A/N:** Peter/Regulus with prompt "Fear envelops bones like new skin."- Pablo Neruda

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>13. Peter-Regulus**

Regulus was the lion and Peter was just the little mouse, but he took pleasure in the fairytale in which the mouse became the savoir of the lion. Regulus took amusement in it as well, a light amusement to relieve him from the chains that had caught him and were slowly throttling him – except this little mouse wasn't strong enough to loosen them over him.

Instead, it was Regulus who had the power, despite being so chained. Though he liked that as well, liked that he wasn't beneath anyone for one – beneath his blood-traitor brother, or the other Death Eaters as a mere little _junior_… No, Peter knew all about being beneath people. They had a kindred spirit there.

And Regulus enjoyed being the menacing lion that frightened the Gryffindor Peter. And Peter enjoyed it as well, because it was a new skin for him, a way to get out from the squash that was his friendship, house and own restraints.


	14. GilderoyNarcissa

**A/N:** Gilderoy/Narcissa with prompt "fair"

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>14. Gilderoy-Narcissa**

Gildory was handsome enough, and not as stern and distant as her husband, so Narcissa couldn't help but look at him. And Narcissa was beautiful and fair, with no lines to crease her face save the set one that was her mouth.

And her eyes were intelligent, something that Gildory found lacking in most beautiful woman.

He liked intelligent women. He could grow to love them. Flighty ones were good for using and nothing more; they had nothing in them. And Narcissa liked the idea of someone who wasn't so set and firm, someone who was malleable in company but whose love, once gained, would never be lost again.

She would capture him, and he would never let her go.


	15. OliverAlicia

**A/N:** Oliver/Alicia with prompt "ideas"

**Valentines in a Snow Globe  
>15. Oliver-Alicia<strong>

Oliver sometimes went a little overboard in his training regiments, but Alicia had her own ideas about just how much they _should_ train and she was ready to put her foot down.

Angelina thought they were both wrong, that the true answer was somewhere in between. Evidentially McGonagall agreed with her, because it was Angelina who took over from Oliver and not Alicia – but when they were arguing about it, it was always Oliver and Alicia, and their two extremes.

Though it often ended with one of them giggling breathlessly under the tickling charm, or, when they were older and wiser, being silenced by a kiss. And practise would be over anyway, because the twins weren't cruel enough to hit a Bludger at them to break them up, but no-one really wanted to watch their PDA.


	16. PadmaPansy

**A/N:** Padma/Pansy with prompt "emerald"

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>16. Padma-Pansy**

The emerald colours of Slytherin suited Pansy quite nicely, just like the blue of Ravenclaw suited Padma. It was funny, as the red of Gryffindor, as testament from her twin, suited her as well – not in terms of personality, but simply matching her hair, eyes and skin.

Emerald was Pansy's only colour though: other combinations just looked unnatural on her, but emerald brought her eyes out beautifully and Padma's eyes would stray from her book and follow the other woman. Sometimes Pansy would notice and spare a private smirk, and Padma would give a tight smile back before returning to her books.

When Christmas rolled around, Padma toyed with the idea of sending some emerald gloves – she'd found them in a shop in Diagon Alley. She did in the end, and she was pleasantly surprised to get a blue and red striped scarf as well. Evidentially, their owls had crossed in mid-air.


	17. MarcusKatie

**A/N:** Marcus/Katie with prompt "forbidden forest"

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>17. Marcus-Katie**

Marcus was many unappealing things, but Katie appreciated that he wasn't a coward. Sure, he was in Gryffindor, but many a Gryffindor couldn't stand to be in the Forbidden Forest for more than a few seconds. She didn't know why they bothered doing Care of Magical Creatures – though maybe it was towards some strange loyalty towards Hagrid.

They were impossible after a detention in there, or during one. Katie was pretty lucky, all things considered, to be paired up with Marcus for hers.

She wasn't sure what he'd done, but what she'd done was mess up one too many potions in Snape's classes. And that had landed them collecting unicorn hair off branches.

And she was thankful for him, because he wasn't jumping at every shadow and that calmed her. Because he told the most outrageous stories that made her laugh. Because he pulled his weight and she didn't have to worry about them not finishing before daybreak. And because he was good all-round company, despite the outwardly arrogance she'd had to poke a few holes into overnight.

She was a little sorry when they left though that she'd had to slap a kiss away. Although she got another one in the Common Room, before they went off to their respective dormitories and a few hours sleep.


	18. KatieLeanne

**A/N:** Katie/Leanne with prompt "tragedy"

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>18. Katie-Leanne**

Leanne realised she leaned on Katie too much when Katie had gone. Before that, it had been natural that the two would always be together, that they'd shoot down their other friends or date requests to hang out: at school, at Hogwarts…

But now there was no Katie, and Leanne was turning them all down only because it felt like betrayal.

They weren't dating, not officially anyway. They didn't kiss or anything like that. Maybe they just hadn't realised it. But now Leanne knew, now that Katie was gone for who knew how long. When she'd almost lost her, when that curse could have taken her life without a scream – except she had screamed, and it had been a terrible terrible scream that clung to Leanne still.

She hadn't been the only one to see it, but she was the only one who still heard its echoes in the walls. Because she was the only one who loved Katie so deeply – and until Katie wrote herself to say she was improving, she would be the only one caught in endless worry.


	19. LuciusNarcissa

**A/N:** Lucius/Narcissa with prompt "crescent moon"

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>19. Lucius-Narcissa**

They had an arranged marriage, but that didn't mean they couldn't share a few romantic moments together. Like strolls through the garden, summers on their French estate, or standing on the balcony under the light of the crescent moon.

Lucius' hair was a beautiful pale in the moon, like a horse's mane. Narcissa's sparkled like moon-dust. It was a moment they could share together, when little Draco was fast asleep and the bustle of daily life had faded away as well.

Moments like that were slim in the world, but they were precious all the same. Even if they didn't appear the hopelessly in love couple as some others. Even if their marriage had been pre-arranged. Because they could love regardless of all that. And they did, no matter what others thought.


	20. SiriusKingsley

**A/N:** Sirius/Regulus with prompt "omen". And last one; I made it. *wipes sweat of face*

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><p><strong>Valentines in a Snow Globe<br>20. Sirius-Kingsley**

Sirius was always a reckless one, and Kingsley somehow always found himself volunteering for cleaning up afterwards. Not that he minded; chasing Sirius was a thrill he didn't often get. And Sirius didn't mind either; he liked Kingsley. Called him the calmer half of his wildness, despite how little sense it made when said allowed.

The war in itself hadn't changed that, so when things did change and Sirius stopped rolling out his bike for missions and started behaving like every other Order member, Kingsley was worried. Sirius changing his ways meant something drastic. Something big.

Sirius confessed he was worried for his friends. Worried for James and Lily who had been forced into hiding. Worried for Peter who seemed even more jumpy of late. Worried for Remus and the influences of the Dark Side…

Kingsley tried to console him, but there was little to be done. It didn't change the fact that Peter disappeared a day later, and James and Lily died in two. It didn't change the fact that no-one cared about Sirius when they stamped him the traitor he couldn't possibly had been, for trying to kill a friend.

Kingsley didn't understand any of it. Why Peter would disappear. How Voldermort had found the Potters. Why he couldn't kill a little boy. Why Sirius had tracked Peter down so viciously. Why he'd blown the street up – and why it hadn't shown up on the wand when he'd checked. Why Sirius hadn't tried to defend himself.

Kingsley tried instead, but the public opinion was too strong to maintain. It took them showcasing Peter's dead body before they could free the man he loved…and by then, he'd been two years dead.


End file.
